Statements: Maryam Rajavi

Mission of Ahamdinejad’s first deputy during his visit to Iraq: Crime against Ashraf, dodging international sanctions, and plundering Iraq’s wealth

Written by Staff Writer on 07 July 2011.

Camp Ashraf military occupation- No. 122

NCRI - In a bid to complete the occupation of Iraq, the mullahs’ regime has embarked on a new political, economic and terrorist campaign in Iraq. On Wednesday, July 06, Mohammad Reza Rahimi, Ahmadinejad’s first deputy, along with a 200-strong delegation including eight ministers of the mullahs’ regime and officials of 100 commercial firms and institutions entered Iraq. Signing several large agreements between the two parties and other various contracts by the so-called private companies were in the agenda of this delegation. These measures are taken at a time when the spread of Arab Spring, particularly the uprisings in Syria, has terrified the Iranian regime and its proxies in Iraq, and international sanctions have caused further problems for the regime. This is at a time when the U.S. is planning to reduce the number of its troops in Iraq.

According to reports obtained from sources inside the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), since a few days ago, a number of the regime’s ministers and governors, as well as a large number of operatives of the terrorist Quds Force and guards from the IRGC-affiliated base called ‘Khatam al-Anbia’ had poured into Iraq pretending to be representatives of the private sector. According to these reports, the mullahs’ regime’s main goals in this major campaign are:

- Suppression and massacre of Ashraf residents and obliteration of Camp Ashraf;

- Preventing the downfall of the crisis-stricken government of Maliki, paralyzing Iraq’s national personalities and forces , and preventing the spread of Arab Spring , especially the uprising in Syria, to Iraq;

- Completing occupation of Iraq through full economic dominance and plundering tremendous wealth of that country;

- Dodging international sanctions through Iraq.

According to Khamenei’s instructions, Rahimi is planned to give the highest priority in his trip, to implementation of Maliki’s previous commitments in suppression and closure of Ashraf, and to let the Iraqi government understand that all other relations with Iran depend on progress in this matter.

In order to prepare the ground for these goals, the mullahs’ regime dispatched two separate groups to Iraq since a week ago, one under the supervision of Ali Agha-Mohammadi, head of Iraq’s desk in regime’s National Security Council, and the other, supervised by Amin Shariati, one of the commanders of the terrorist Quds Force, who had been in charge of Engineering Corps of Defense Ministry for many years.

All the projects, tenders and economic activities in Iraq are led by the Presidential Economic Development Headquarters under the supervision of Kazemi Qomi, a commander of the terrorist Quds Force and Iranian regime’s former ambassador to Iraq. Kazemi Qomi is also Director of the Economic Conference, which is held in Sheraton Hotel in Baghdad. The economic development headquarters is part of Khatam al-Anbia base which was regime’s command center during the Iran-Iraq war. A large number of the so-called commercial firms that work in Iraq or accompany Rahimi in this trip are affiliated with this headquarters and are linked to the Quds force in Iraq.

Representatives of several banks and investing firms are present in this delegation in order to dodge the sanctions. Thus far, more than 10 firms with Iraqi names have been registered to evade the sanctions, and for this purpose, the regime intends to use the ‘Islamic Regional Cooperation Bank’ as a front.

Other companies accompanying Rahimi that are on the sanctions list are: the Iranian National Bank, the Moalem Insurance Co., and the Ghadir Investment Co. affiliated with Saderat Bank.

Some of the state-run companies that are already operating in Iraq as private companies are: The Etka Co. owned by the Iranian regime’s Army; Saneer and Farab Companies owned by the Energy Ministry; and Nasr Moin Parsayan, Nasr Miesaq, Jahad Nasr of Kermanshah, Nasr of Isfahan, Jihad Nasr Hamzeh and Jahad Nasr all of them owned by IRGC’s Jahad-e Sazandegi.

In a report prepared by the Quds Force for the Economic Development Headquarters it is indicated that: "The current insecurity in Iraq is the best opportunity for us to enter its market, because insecurity frightens the Western companies from investing in that country." The report emphasizes: "Our advantage in entering the Iraqi market is the compassion of a number of Iraqi officials for Iran. We can gain the consent of some of the other officials and political parties through monetary and political assistance. One of the ways to enter the Iraqi market is to export inexpensive goods with deluxe packaging." This report adds that through controlling the economic infrastructure of Iraq such as the electric power, the Iranian regime would gain the upper hand in political developments, especially after the withdrawal of the U.S. forces from the country. An increase in the export of electricity to Iraq is on Rahimi's agenda.

This report indicates that although in the past year Iran's export to Iraq, standing at four billion dollars, makes Iraq the number one country in economic relations with the Iranian regime, Iraq is the sole country through which the Iranian regime can evade the sanctions imposed on it on a massive scale; therefore, the volume of economic transactions must be increased as much as possible. The state-run IRNA news agency, said that Iraq's ambassador in Tehran predicted the volume of exchange between the two countries to reach seven billion dollars and the number of Iranian pilgrims to Iraq would increase to as much as 10,000 people per day.

The Iranian Resistance warns of the new plots by the clerical regime and its proxies in Iraq and draws the attention of the international community, especially the UN Security Council, the United States and the European Union to violation of international sanctions and pertinent Security Council resolutions by the Iranian regime and the government of Iraq.